Gareth Gates mania started in earnest today as crowds queued outside record stores to snap up his first single.

Stores across the district opened their doors early to allow fans to buy the first copies of Gareth's version of Unchained Melody which is predicted to go straight to the top of the charts.

And the 17-year-old former student, who last week signed an advertising deal with Pepsi, is well on his way to making his first million after his trademark hairstyle earned him a second lucrative advertising contract with hair products firm Wella.

Today, Gareth's dad Paul, of East Bowling, Bradford, said: "It is a very exciting deal for Gareth and he is really pleased with it. It is going to be a big week, and we are just hoping the record will sell well."

Crowds gathered outside HMV and Virgin records stores in Bradford well before they opened at 8am today.

Fronting the queue at HMV in Broadway was 17-year-old Samantha Turner who had arrived at 7.20am to make sure she was the first to buy the single.

"We thought that when we got here there'd be loads more people and a massive queue, but it's going to number one anyway, I'll make sure it does.

"I think he'll sell two million copies. He's that sexy he'll do it. If he turns up here this morning I'm not going to go to college, I'm staying all day!"

John Walker, manger of Virgin in Darley Street, said the store had sold 100 copies in the first ten minutes.

"I think it will be selling similar quantities throughout the day. It's hard to predict, but I still think it's going to be on of the biggest selling singles of all time given the pre-orders and the quantity we have sold already. It's going to be a massive day," he said.

Outside Woolworths in Market Square, Shipley, people of all ages, from children on their way to school to grandparents, waited in the bright sunshine before the doors opened at 7.50am, ten minutes ahead of schedule.

Worried staff were phoning around other branches in an attempt to find extra stocks of the single. And within 15 minutes of opening, store manager Steve Key said more than 100 copies of the single had been sold.

"We have had about 400 pre-orders which was absolutely unheard of for a single, and we expected most of our sales this morning would be those pre-orders. I am a bit concerned at this moment, because it's looking like we are going to run short."

The store is also taking orders for Gareth's new album which is expected to be released in June or July.

"We are trying to take orders for the album when people pick up the single, and nearly everybody is taking us up on the offer," said Mr Key. "When we opened, there were all sorts of people queuing up, including one woman who said she had been rung up at 6am and told to get down here to buy a copy for her granddaughter."

Gareth's mum Wendy Gates said she was stunned by the response to the single, and said a special thank you to everyone who has continued to back Gareth.

"I think it is just amazing the number of people that have been behind him and who are now buying the single," she said.

Gareth was spending today in London ahead of the Pop Idol tour's first show at the Docklands Arena tonight. He is due to return to Yorkshire with two dates at the Sheffield Arena at the end of this week.